Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Woman arrested for keeping son in dog crate

A 54-year-old woman appeared in Middlesex Superior Court today to respond to charges that she had kept her son in a dog crate at night because he was soiling his bed or bedroom, Old Saybrook police Sgt. Kevin Roche said. Kathlyn Anthony, of 28 River Ave., was charged Sunday with risk of injury to a minor following several months of investigation that involved Old Saybrook police and the state’s Department of Children and Families.


Photo from here.

Old Saybrook police learned from an Old Saybrook public schools employee in December that Anthony had allegedly been keeping her son in a dog crate at night for about two weeks, Roche said. The plastic crate with a metal door measured 36 inches by 22 inches and was 30 inches high, Roche said. The family had once used the crate to house cats, Roche said.

“Apparently, the child who was in the crate was having some issues, or the mother was having some issues with the child defecating in the juvenile’s bed or within his bedroom,” Roche said. Roche would not disclose the boy’s age or the school he attended to protect the child’s identity. He said the boy was adopted but could not say when he had been adopted or how many other children Anthony had.


Photo from here.

Roche said Anthony had “sought out some other remedies – different agencies and different ways of correcting the issue – and it didn’t work,” Roche said. “So she started using the dog crate as a way of – and I don’t want to say punishment – but that’s where he slept at night,” Roche said.

3 comments:

melissa said...

Ok, I really don't get people sometimes. In what universe is this a valid treatment or therapy? Seriously, not to share too much, but one of my mom's friends had a son who used to do this. He'd soil his room, himself etc and he was not learning disabled. Anyway a combonation of therapy and him 'growing out of it' is what cured him. I get this is not at all pleasant, but come on! You don't put a child in an animal cage!

andiscandis said...

Seriously. I know someone whose kid had a similar problem. She put his pjs on backwards (zipper up the back) so he couldn't get them off. Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

This is mental, you can not crate train a person the way you would a puppy. I am glad he got adopted a child is not a pet, I just hope he ended up in a good home with good parents.Some children just go through this stage buy waterproof sheets and hope for the best if all else fails.